Worktime Musings
by Gillian Taylor
Summary: "Thou shalt not sleep/marry/fall in love with thy partner." Whoever came up with that line should be shot...


Title: "Worktime Musings"  
Author: Gillian Taylor  
E-Mail Address: [USSTrustNo1@hotmail.com][1]  
Rating: PG-13  
Category: S/R/H  
Spoilers: Up to and including Season 6  
Keywords: Mulder/Scully Romance, Humor  
Summary: "Thou shalt not sleep/marry/fall in love with thy partner." Whoever came up with that line should be shot...

Disclaimer: Ahem. Let's all sing along! Chris Carter, oh can't you see? I know they don't belong to me. They belong to Ten Thirteen. Mulder and Scully and all the rest, they are the best. I'm borrowing them with utmost respect; they'll be home before you guess. And now I will call this lame song to a rest.

Author's Notes:Special thanks go to my betas- Crysta, Astoria, and Mrs. H and to my friends and crew on the USS TrustNo1. The Lone Gunpersons rule!

"Worktime Musings"  
by Gillian Taylor

Thou shalt not sleep/marry/fall in love with thy partner.

Alright, who in the hell came up with that rule?! I swear that person deserves to be shot and I'm just the FBI Agent to do it. Come *on!* If anyone knew how to deal with having a lovable, pain in the ass partner...Woah, hang on there, did I say lovable? Yeah, I did. Oh boy. I must have it bad.

And you know something else? The object of my fascination is sitting right across from me, chewing on his pencil...

I want to be that pencil. I really do. The way his lips curl around the eraser head, his lips almost caressing the sides...is it possible to get aroused by a pencil? Hell yes. Just look at my partner.

"Scully?" his voice pulled me out of my reverie quickly.

I raised my eyes from his lips with a touch of regret as I wished that pencil all the best, "Mulder?" I asked with the same tone.

"You ok?"

You mean other than having fantasies about your pencil, yeah, just peachy. "I'm fine, Mulder." 'I'm fine.' I should get a trademark on that phrase, or a patent. "I'm fine." - Patent Number 10131121 US Patent Office granted to Dana Katherine Scully. Really, I should. I use it enough.

He cracked a lop-sided smile, but I know that he knows what I know and I know that...Um...nevermind.

"Hey Scully, want to get some pizza?"

Dinner. Now that's a lovely thought. My stomach growled its accord, but my mind said no, "Mulder, we have a report due in two hours. We don't have time for pizza."

His face began to turn downwards...no Mulder, don't do...not that...He did it. Damnit, that little boy pout. He *knows* he can get away with murder when he uses that.

I sighed, "We have to eat it here."

He flashed me a grin as he whipped out his cell phone. Why he didn't use the phone on his desk...you've got me hanging. I think he just gets a sense of power from that cell phone. What was it that I said once? Oh yeah. 'Mulder, if you had to deal without a cell phone for two minutes you'd lapse into catatonic schizophrenia.' It's true. It almost makes me wonder if he sleeps with the damn thing...

I shook my head as I returned to the report that has been blaring on my computer screen for the past three hours. Kersh must have some document or privilege or something that gives him the right to be a slave driver. Oh yeah, he's our boss. I miss having Skinner as our boss. *He* at least gave us more than a day after we get back from a case to turn in the report. Then again, under Skinner we didn't have to investigate the wonderful world of manure.

I half-heartedly typed in a few more words on the report, my eyes glazing over again as Mulder got off the phone and resumed chewing on his pencil. Damn. I *want* to be that pencil. I was seriously tempted to start banging my head against my keyboard from frustration, but I restrained myself. Barely.

"It should be here in thirty minutes," he said around the pencil. The look in his eyes told me that he must have said it once before as I uttered a non-committal grunt.

'...the horses' bladders were then opened to retrieve the heroin...'

The words were starting to blur together. Maybe I could just throw in something simple and quick and get this damn thing finished...

'...the heroin stash was discovered upon Agent Mulder's literally stepping on the evidence...'

I barely stifled a snicker as the scene flashed before my eyes. Mulder had stepped in a pile of manure that covered a bag of heroin...I couldn't help it, I let out a full-throated chuckle before returning to my usual composed self.

Mulder looked at me curiously for a moment, but shrugged and went back to whatever it was that he was doing. Solitaire probably. That man has an uncanny knack for finding ways to avoid doing work. Sometimes its solitaire, other times its trying to annoy me, or else its tossing paper clips into the garbage can. (I've done that before myself) His life is one big break. And I'm usually the one that has to write the majority of the damn reports.

I sighed again, rubbing my face wearily. I *will* finish this report. It's just down to me and the report. Me and the report. And I *will* win against...Oh boy. Somebody shoot me now.

Ten more minutes of suffering from pencil musings and swearing at the report later, the pizza arrived. As I watched him eat a piece, I found a new 'something' to want to be. I want to be that slice of pizza. The way that he held it up to capture that last bit of cheese before it fell across his face...the way his tongue flicked out to lick away a bit of sauce that was captured on his lips...Is it hot in here?

"Scully? Aren't you hungry?"

Ravenous actually, just not for the pizza, thank you very much. I smiled and grabbed a piece of pizza, chewing on it almost daintily to hide my observations of my partner. I should've known that he would've seen right through me. I really should have.

"So, see anything you like?"

I dropped the slice on my lap. "Damnit!" was all I said as I tried in vain to keep the pizza sauce from sinking in to my favorite suit.

He was at my side in an instant, "Dang, Scully. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to startle you."

"It's ok," I said, but for some unknown reason I had the urge to start crying.

"No...I don't think it is," he responded, lifting my chin to look in my eyes.

My traitorous lower lip began to tremble; "I'm fine." I'm fine. Fine. Fine. Fine. Fine. Most definitely *not* fine. I'm in love with my partner, I can't *do* anything about it, I dropped a slice of pizza on my favorite suit and I can't be a pencil!

"No...I don't think you are," his voice dropped to an almost vocal caress as he pulled me closer. Damnit, he's...melting...

A tear quickly escaped my control, followed by another and another until a torrential downpour of tears fell down my cheek to dampen his suit. He held me tightly as I cried. I wanted my control back but he was too close, just way too close.

After what seemed like a few millennia, my tears slowed to a stop. I raised my head to tell him thank you, but what ended up happening next wasn't exactly what either of us expected. He was leaning down to kiss me on the forehead while I was looking up...and our lips met. I reddened and pulled away slightly. I was certain that my heart was beating loud enough to be heard in Cincinnati--by a deaf man.

"Scully...I," he breathed, but he quickly blushed as he realized what had just happened. We had kissed.

*Kissed.*

In the middle of the bullpen.

At two o'clock in the afternoon.

On a *Tuesday.*

Shit, shit, shit. We looked around the room in the sudden silence. It seemed as if every eye in the room was on us. Shit, shit, shit, shit...

Mulder was my saving grace as he reached over and brushed something off my lip, "There you go, Scully. Got it."

"Thanks, Mulder," I responded numbly as I went on shaking legs to the ladies room to try and rescue my skirt. We kissed. Oh my GOD. We kissed...

Fifteen minutes later, after touching up my makeup and staring at my lips for a good ten minutes, I re-emerged. It was very difficult making it back to my desk without turning around and running out of the building. Embarrassment sucks, just so you know.

He flashed a grin at me as I sat down. Damn the man! We had just *kissed* fifteen minutes ago and what does he go back to doing? Just sitting there...chewing on that damn pencil...

I shifted uneasily under his gaze, but heroically attempted to write more on the report. It was futile now, though. I sighed and typed a letter. 'A.' It can be very fascinating just to stare at it. It sort of looks like a rocket one way. Or a teepee. Or an alien. Oh God, I've got Mulder on the brain.

An IM message popped up on the screen, interrupting my contemplation of the letter 'A.'

'FWM231: I love you.'

My mouth dropped open as I read that over and over again. Ohmigodohmigodohmigod...the words just jumbled through my head as I read it once again for good measure. He said...

'DKS107: Really? What a coincidence.'

Oh god, I hit enter. SHIT. I didn't mean to put that there...it was just my thoughts, I didn't mean to...

Too late.

'FWM231: How so?'

I knew I was in for it. There was no backing out now.

'DKS107: I love you too.'

I *said* it, well typed it. Maybe I could melt into the floor. Or better yet...ram my head through my computer screen...

'FWM231: Cool'

Trust Mulder to come up with something like that. 'Cool.' I just confessed my deepest, darkest secret that I loved him and what does he say? Cool. I hear Tahiti is nice this time of year...

I raised my eyes slowly to look over my computer screen. He was grinning like an idiot. He's just so...infuriating...and lovable. Oh my God...

"Agent Mulder, Agent Scully," a familiar voice said from behind me.

SHIT. I tried to pull up the report to cover the IM box, but it was too late. Skinner saw it.

'At least it was Skinner,' a traitorous voice said thoughtfully. I just wanted to die right then and there. A heart attack. Courtesy of mortification that my former boss just saw a conversation on my *computer* at *work* that admitted that my partner and I loved each other.

Where's my gun?

"Go home, Agents. You both look tired. I can tell Kersh that you both are taking the rest of the day off to recover from your demanding trip."

I know my eyes were bugging out of my head because Mulder's most definitely were.

"Sir, the report..."

"GO, Agent Scully," Skinner said, and I was certain that I saw him wink at me.

We didn't have to be told again, I quickly saved what little I had of the report and shut down my computer. There was *no* way that anyone else was going to see that IM message.

However, things did not turn out any differently than any other normal day--that is as normal as it could be given that I had just been *kissed* by my partner. Mulder and I parted ways in the parking garage, though I was certain that he did linger a little longer in my presence than he usually did.

I did not end up waiting nervously by the phone wondering when he was going to call me, or if I was going to call him. I did not pace my living room floor over the events in the bullpen (though I did pace a little in the kitchen waiting for my tea to be ready), nor did I change and rush over to his apartment. Of course I was tempted to do some, if not all, of these things, but I figured, 'What's the point?'

Mulder and I had just acknowledged something that we had known for a very long time. We just said that we loved each other on our computers and kissed at work. That's all. Nothing more. Nothing...now who was I kidding? I was a nervous wreck.

The sharp trill of my cell phone interrupted my latest train of thought. I could barely say my usual "Scully" without my voice cracking.

"It's me."

"Hi me," I said with a grin in my voice. Surprisingly my nervousness disappeared the moment that I heard his voice--or maybe not so surprisingly given the fact that I could hear the nervousness in *his* voice.

"I...uh, I was wondering if you wanted to go out tonight."

Ok, this was a simple question. A simple response required. 'Yes, Mulder, I would love to go out with you.' Simple, right? Wrong. Once again my heart was beating loud enough to be heard in Cincinatti AND Cedar Rapids. So did I go with the simple answer? Of course not. Instead something along the lines of, 'Uuuuggggnnnnhhhh' was my response.

"Scully? Scully, if you don't want to, that's fine," his confused and almost panicked voice responded.

I did a mental back-peddling, realizing almost as soon as he responded that he would take that articulate 'uuuuuggggnnnhhh' as a no, "No, Mulder, I want to. I'd love to. Where?" Now was that so hard?

"It's All You Can Eat night at Denny's," he cracked, but in a quieter, more nervous voice he continued, "How about Giorgio's?"

Giorgio's. Dear God, he was most definitely suggesting a 'date restaurant.' But in my opinion, we just weren't the types to go to 'date restaurants.' We were Ripley's, we were Chili's, we were Olive Gardens, we were McDonalds, and we were the sleazy diners that were in every town from here to California. We were *not* Giorgio's, "How about Chili's?"

The relief was almost palpable in his voice, "Sounds good to me. So...what are you wearing, Scully?"

I could not help giving into an evil thought, "Practically nothing. See you at seven. Bye Mulder."

It was his turn to respond with an 'Uuuuuggggnnnnhhhh' as I hit the 'end' button. Maybe my wish will be fulfilled tonight. I did get kissed today, I admitted that I loved my partner, so all that's left is becoming that pencil...

THE END  
~~~~~~~~~~~

Feed me!

USSTrustNo1@hotmail.com

   [1]: mailto:USSTrustNo1@hotmail.com



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